Reflections on CHART 2025

Curated Presentations by 36 Leading Nordic Galleries

For CHART 2025, we were delighted to welcome 25.000 visitors to Charlottenborg to celebrate the leading Nordic art fair. From 28 – 31 August, artists, galleries, collectors, arts professionals, and institutional representatives came together in Copenhagen to experience the art fair, CHART Public, Start Collecting with CHART, a broad public programme and the off-site exhibition: CHART in Tivoli.

This year’s CHART saw particularly strong sales amongst the exhibiting galleries, extensive press coverage in both Nordic and European newspapers, high turnout from international museums as well as increased presence from corporate art collections and foundations across the region.

CHART 2025 focused particular attention on Art in the Public Space, activating many inspiring public artworks situated around central Copenhagen. Through a series of new initiatives, this year’s CHART also introduced temporary performance, video and sculptural works to highly visible public locations throughout the city.

Art in the Public Space – Key Initiatives for CHART 2025

This year saw the introduction of CHART Public, a new concept that combined a total installation inside the courtyards at Charlottenborg with the Public Programme that took place here. Following an open call competition in the spring for innovative stagings with a distinct wow-factor, Re-Route by Samuel Charles Barratt was selected as winner. The project functioned as an immersive art experience in the heart of Copenhagen, free and open for everyone to attend.

The Public Programme at CHART 2025 included an ambitious selection of performance artworks and live music concerts. Taking place inside the courtyards at Charlottenborg, but also out in the public space surrounding Kongens Nytorv and Nyhavn, these performances created temporary public art experiences in the city centre.

For CHART 2025 we were proud to partner with the Copenhagen Metro. As part of this collaboration, excerpts from video artworks exhibited as part of this year's Cinema Programme were shown on advertising screens at every Metro station in Copenhagen. Works by Elina Brotherus, Janaina Tschäpe, Valentin Ranger and Heini Aho were among those shown to hundreds of thousands of passengers passing through the Metro network during the days of CHART.

As part of this year's focus on art in the public space, CHART also hosted a series of Art Running Tours in the build up to and during the days of the fair, guiding art enthusiasts around some of the city's many inspiring public artworks. Combining the benefits of exercise with the impact of public art, the curated routes for these Art Running Tours were also published via the CHART website, so everyone can make their own self-guided tour. Find out more HERE.

Institutional Presence at CHART 2025

At CHART 2025 we were delighted to welcome representatives from the following global institutions: MAMCO - Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain (CH), CAPC Musée d'art Contemporain de Bordeaux (FR), Centre Pompidou (FR), Gasworks (UK), Buffalo AKG Art Museum (US), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (US), MOCAD – Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (US), The Belvedere (AT), KW Institute for Contemporary Art (DE), MMK - Museum für Moderne Kunst (DE), Art Gallery of Ontario (CA), Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci (IT) and Kunstmuseum Den Haag (NL).

In addition to a strong international museum presence, we were proud to host representatives from leading Nordic institutions including: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (DK), SMK - Statens Museum for Kunst (DK), Glyptoteket (DK), ARKEN (DK), Kunsten (DK), Moderna Museet (SE), Malmö Konstmuseum (SE), Malmö Konsthall (SE), Artipelag (SE), Bonniers Konsthall (SE), Institut Suédois - Svenska institutet (SE), EMMA (FI), KIASMA (FI), Amos Rex Art Museum (FI), HAM Helsinki Art Museum (FI), Canica Art Collection (NO), Bergen Kunsthall (NO), National Museum of Norwary (NO), Kunsthall Stavanger (NO), Kunsthall Grenland (NO) Reykjavik Art Museum (IS).

Nordic & International Press Coverage

CHART 2025 attracted significant media attention from Danish, Nordic and international press outlets. This year, the fair welcomed an unprecedented number of journalists who were on site covering the fair in-person, as well as writing additional remote coverage.

Highlights from this year’s Nordic and international press campaigns included features in: Il Sole 24 Ore (IT), Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (DE), Le Quotidien de l'Art (FR), Frieze (UK) and Dezeen (UK), Politiken (DK), Børsen (DK), Berlingske (DK), ELLE (DK), Eurowoman (DK), RUM (DK), Svenska Dagbladet (SE), Sydsvenskan (SE), Morgunblaðið (IS), Dagens Industri (SE), Artlover (SE), Odalisque (SE), Dagens Nyheter (SE), Magasinet Kunst (DK), madameFIGARO (JP), mig og kbh (DK), Art Territory (LV), Bo Bedre (DK), Art Matter (DK), Alt for Damerne, BILLED-BLADET (DK).

Alongside extensive coverage in both printed and digital publications, CHART 2025 was also prominently featured in radio broadcasts on DR (DK) and in television segments aired by TV 2 Kosmopol (DK).

Talks Programme

The Talks Programme at CHART 2025 featured a range of inspiring panel discussions with experts from different fields. Conversations focused on the important issues shaping our cultural debates today and highlighted topics such as private patronage, the notion of Nordicness, sustainable exhibition-making, public art and how to collect art as a company.

We would like to thank our Key Partner UBS with whom we co-hosted the panel discussion CHART x UBS – Collecting Through Generations, exploring how collections evolve across generations with insights from experienced collectors.

Alongside panel discussions, this year’s Talks Programme also featured a range of one-on-one conversations between leading international curators and artists exhibiting at CHART including: Ahmed Umar, Benedikte Bjerre, Emily Gernild, Esben Weile Kjær, Frederik Næblerød, Kim Richard Adler Mejdahl, Minh Ngọc Nguyễn and Valentin Ranger.

Be sure to tune into the CHART Talks podcast in the coming months where we will be releasing recordings from each of the talks, to listen back to.

CHART Public

Following the final edition of CHART Architecture last year, in 2025 we were delighted to introduce a new concept: CHART Public. Combining a total installation inside the courtyards at Charlottenborg with the public programme that takes place here, an open call was sent out earlier in the spring inviting teams of architects, designers, artists and scenographers to submit proposals for innovative stagings with a distinctive wow-factor.

Re-Route by Samuel Charles Barratt was selected as the winner and realised at Charlottenborg during CHART. The project transformed familiar urban elements into a luminous social landscape, reimagining standard Danish traffic cones — symbols of caution and construction — as floating beacons of community and celebration. Suspended from a steel scaffolding structure, thousands of cones formed a dynamic overhead canopy that invited visitors to experience a familiar space in a new way. Built from reusable materials that returned to their original use after the event, the installation followed a circular design approach to minimise waste while maximising impact.

Thank you to this year’s competition jury: Christine Buhl Andersen, Director of Frederiksbergmuseerne; Rolf Hay, Co-founder of Danish design brand HAY; Rikke Hedeager, Artistic Director at Republique/Revolver; Katrine Morel, Head of Architecture & Spatial Design at Surface Club, and Project manager for CHART Public; Finn Nørkjær, partner at BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group.

Performances & Music Programme

The Public Programme at CHART 2025 included a curated selection of performance artworks that took place inside Kunsthal Charlottenborg and the surrounding courtyards, as well as out in the public space at Nyhavn, Kongens Nytorv and the nearby metro station. This year's Performance Programme included works by LILITH Artist Duo, Zishi Han & Wei Yang, Cecilia Fiona and Filip Vest.

Artists such as as Hess Is More: Apollonian Drum Duo and Kim Richard Adler Mejdahl also presented performances that blurred the lines between performance artwork and live music concert - integrating immersive instrumental performances and DJ sets as part of their performance.

As part of the Public Programme at CHART 2025, a full series of concerts were presented as part of this year's Music Programme, that were free and open for the general public to attend. Performing artists inlucded: Svaneborg Kardyb, David Risley, Molina, Christian d'Or B2B Prom Night, Blush, Zoumer, Xenia Xamanek, Lucca, Boogie Rookie, Alba Akvama, Soli City, Haloplus+, Ydegirl & RIP Swirl and oqbqbo.